1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to electroplating processes and more particularly to the elimination or reduction of discharge of the rinses from electroplating operations which are normally discharged to industrial waste for treatment.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Prior methods use a dip-rinse technology for plated part cleaning by diffusion and some form of effluent clean-up. The prior methods use conventional dilution type rinses, either free flow or countercurrent, which use the principle of immersing the electroplated part in water to allow the "drag out" to be diluted from the part. The normal free flow rinses are then discharged to industrial waste for treatment. Hard chrome plating operations, for example, have a major problem with water usage. Large volumes of water with low concentrations of chrome are not economically recoverable by standard recovery processes. Frequently the problem is compounded by mixing the rinse waters from a variety of metal finishing operations. The elimination or reduction of the need to discharge the rinses to industrial waste and the elimination of high treatment costs provide significant savings, as well as provide a reduction in environmental pollution.